Saving Memory in the Decline of Life

Abstract:

“When one reaches the decline of life it is imperative to try and gather together as many as possible of the sensations which have passed through our particular organism.” - Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
Much has been written about memory, its formation, persistence, malleability and loss. Although the chemical and physiologic mechanisms are largely beyond the scope of this manuscript (and to some extent, science itself), we know that they form, grow, decline and ultimately disappear. Our hopes and fears, all we know, are controlled by what we remember; what we learn is based on what we know.
My mother and mother-in-law shared a hospital room when my sister and wife were born two days apart; As a result, my wife and I have been aware of each other ever since. We have to a considerable extent lived the same life in close proximity and yet we remember many things differently and often different things. Our memories seem best aligned about food and place.
If Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa is right that “it is imperative to try and gather together as many as possible of the sensations which have passed through our particular organism” there must be a repository in which to do so. For me place is the template that organizes this repository and photographs are the external physical representations of the memories it contains, old, new and yet to come.